Division Opponents in 2015: Washington Nationals

[Edgy MD]

The standard bearers in the division have Bryce Harper already demanding his ring. An expectedly very good lineup and a seemingly excellent rotation will lead young men to jump to conclusions, but games must be played. For the time being, they must be played without Yunel Escobar and Denard Span. Escobar is expected to be in ship shape in time for the opener, but Span, not so much.

When they take the field, they may or may not look like this:

[*:125iygtw]Escobar, 2b[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]Rendon, 3b[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]Werth, rf[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]Harper, lf[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]Zimmerman, 1b[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]Desmond, ss[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]Ramos, c[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]McLouth, cf[/*:m:125iygtw][/list:o:125iygtw]

Escobar returns to the bottom third of lineup if and when Span returns, knocking McLouth to the bench.

Did someone say pitching?


[*:125iygtw]M. Scherzer[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]S. Strasburg[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]D. Fister[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]J. Zimmermann[/*:m:125iygtw]
[*:125iygtw]G. Gonzalez[/*:m:125iygtw][/list:o:125iygtw]

That's one perfectly justifiable way to sort the rotation, but who knows. Each one can be as dominant as any other, depending on which house the moon is in that night. Tanner Roark gave them a more-than-solid 15�10, 2.85 season and is looking at bullpen assignment in 2015. Drew Storen was the third closer the team used last year but was excellent when the team finally cycled around to him.

Max Scherzer is a handsome guy at press conferences but is one of those guys who can't not look goofy when pitching.

[fimg=600:125iygtw]http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/WireAP_80441d44f0e840c2815b56b75ef54bff_16x9_992.jpg[/fimg:125iygtw]

[Frayed Knot]

McLouth & Werth are also currently less-than-healthy OFs who can't yet be considered locks to be ready to go in early April.
Tony Gwynn Jr is in camp and may wind up as their OD CF

[Edgy MD]

Matt den Dekker forces the issue for Washington, as Tony Gwynn, Jr. joins Kevin Frandsen on the cut list.

Gwynnie sent to the minors, and Frandsen released.

[Ceetar]

This was by design. Starting this season, for now at least, the Nationals will be playing slow, soft rock songs during the visiting team�s batting practice. If facing the Nationals� rotation was not difficult and daunting enough, they are trying to psyche out their opponents, at least in some small way. Because the Mets were in town for the first series of the season, they served as guinea pigs. Over three games, they heard the Carpenters, Elton John, Sarah McLachlan, Sinead O�Connor, R.E.M. and Kansas (�Dust in the Wind�).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/sports/baseball/nationals-play-dj-and-try-to-make-mets-feel-like-dust-in-the-wind.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[Edgy MD]

That's some dirty-ass pool.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

R.E.M. falls under the heading of Soft Rock now? Kill me!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: R.E.M. falls under the heading of Soft Rock now? Kill me!

Everybody hurts, sometimes.

If they really wanted to torture an opponent they should play interviews with Michael Stipe.

[HahnSolo]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Mets � Willets Point wrote: R.E.M. falls under the heading of Soft Rock now? Kill me! Everybody hurts, sometimes. If they really wanted to torture an opponent they should play interviews with Michael Stipe.

Now that is comedy.

[nymr83]

get the triple happiness thread ready! Mets beat the Philthies 2-0 and meanwhile the RedSox are laying some hurt on Jordan Zimmerman.

[Edgy MD]

Baltimore has to do their part too. Or have the Yankees become so irrelevant so soon?

[Frayed Knot]

Nymr83 wrote: get the triple happiness thread ready! Mets beat the Philthies 2-0 and meanwhile the RedSox are laying some hurt on Jordan Zimmerman.

From what I heard, while Zimmermann wasn't good by any means, it was more the Nats' defense again failing them. Only one official error but the brief discussion I heard of it it sounded like one of those deals where there was one error but also 3 mistakes, 2 goofs, 4 fuck-ups, plus a handful of boo-boos. Harper & Taylor let a bases-loaded fly fall between them which was immediately followed by a similar deal on an infield grounder between SS & 3rd. The one error was another throwing E on Desmond.

The starters have been (mostly) as good as advertised for DC, but their hitting, defense, & bullpen have collectively sucked, with only the 'O' having an excuse of missing players (and Werth is back today).

[Edgy MD]

Never really understood why a misjudged fly gets counted as a hit but a misplayed grounder is an error.

The notion that a ball should go through a guy's natural wingspan to count as an error is silly, especially with regards to outfielders, where what's reasonably expected of a guy occurs on a much bigger scale.

[Frayed Knot]

Back and forth game Nats @ Boston tonight where the Nats lost due to a 2 HBP + 3 errors 7th inning including another one by Ian Desmond which started the whole frame. 3 runs/0 hits for the Sox that inning in what became an 8-7 final.
Desmond did have 3 hits in this game but that just evens him out at 6 hits & 6 errors on the season.
Also another NOT good outing by Strasberg.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Careful -- they've signed Jose Valverde.

[Edgy MD]

And mooks online are complaining that we need experienced veteran relief help.

[Frayed Knot]

[u:1m8e5lho]Four Game set in NYC[/u:1m8e5lho]

Nats = 9-13, just crawled out of last place.
Have had trouble scoring runs right up until two games ago when they dropped 13 on the Braves in two consecutive nights (the first one overcoming an early 9-1 deficit).
Their starting pitching has been decent but not as good as advertised; the pen is having all kinds of problems; the hitting erratic at best; and the defense just plain terrible.


Thursday 7:10: deGrom vs Strasberg [1-2, 4.88, 1.63]
Certainly not the numbers the Nationals expect from Strasberg. He's had just one good outing in four this year and that came against the Phillies so it barely even counts.

Friday 7:10 -- Harvey vs Scherzer [1-2, 1.26, 0.84]
Scherzer is coming off a skipped start based on a sore thumb which was caused by him trying to swing a bat which apparently never occurred to him that he'd have to do when he decided that $20+ million/year wasn't enough money for him to stay in the AL so now he's trying to get the rules changed so he doesn't have to do it. Don't it just make your brown eye blue?
He's pitched ridiculously well for a guy with a 1-2 start. The 3 runs we tagged in with on opening day were the most he's given up in 4 starts but his team's bats and gloves have let him down so far.

Saturday 7:10 -- Niese vs Gonzalez [1-2; 5.01, 1.71]
Pitched a gem vs StL two outings ago but has otherwise been pretty shitty (5 runs, 3 runs, 6 runs). We didn't see him in the opening series

Sunday 1:10 -- Gee vs Fister [1-1, 3.28, 1.46]
The other starter we didn't see opening week, the first two starts for Fister were pretty good, next two not so much.


We also didn't see Span, Werth, or Rendon the first week.
Span is back and is hot. Werth is back and is not. Rendon has been rehabbing and is a possibility to surface before the weekend is out.

[Lefty Specialist]

I don't like that they're heating up just as the Mets are cooling down.

Spending the weekend golfing with a bunch of Phillies/Nats fans and I don't want to be taking crap for 3 days. I'm still living down 2007.

[Ceetar]

Lefty Specialist wrote: I don't like that they're heating up just as the Mets are cooling down. Spending the weekend golfing with a bunch of Phillies/Nats fans and I don't want to be taking crap for 3 days. I'm still living down 2007.

4 days.

but perhaps the Mets are through the cool period and will heat up again.

they don't lose at home after all.

[Lefty Specialist]

Ceetar wrote: Lefty Specialist wrote: I don't like that they're heating up just as the Mets are cooling down. Spending the weekend golfing with a bunch of Phillies/Nats fans and I don't want to be taking crap for 3 days. I'm still living down 2007. 4 days. but perhaps the Mets are through the cool period and will heat up again. they don't lose at home after all.

I leave Sunday morning, before they play the last game. So 3 days of abuse or abusing.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

You should golf less.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: You should golf less.

me, I'd like to golf more.

[Edgy MD]

You should frolf more.

[Lefty Specialist]

Sometimes I find I'm golfing more and enjoying it less. Maybe I should frolf.

In any case, wins tonight and tomorrow could lower my score considerably as I would be hitting with CAHNfidence.

[Frayed Knot]

Bryce Harper with 3 HRs in his first 3 ABs this afternoon. He then grounded out in AB #4 in the 7th inning.
Is 7th in line to bat in the 8th inning so the Nats need a rally to get him up and, with Washington at home and handily ahead of Miami, they won't likely bat in the 9th.

[Frayed Knot]

Nice of someone to finally dent the back end of the Yanx bullpen, just wish it hadn't been the Nats.
Not technically a blown save since it was a tie game, but those were the first earned runs scored all season off of either Betances or Miller.


Ryan Zimmerman, who won last night's contest with a 2R HR off of Andrew Miller, now has 10 career walk-off HRs. Not only is that a lot in a general sense, but everyone else who has as many* or more than him has at least twice as many career HRs as compared to Zimmerman's comparatively paltry 189. Looked at another way, more than 5% of his HRs have gone for walk-off winners. Active leaders Pujols & Papi, for instance, have 11 walk-off HRs each but have those spread over a combined 999 career HRs, barely over 2%.


Jayson Werth back to the DL. I think he sprained his hair.
Infielder Wilmer Difo was called up making the NL East a two-Wilmer division.





* At least as far as can be determined. Some pre-1930s data for WO HRs are sketchy.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It's a win-win as Jacoby Ellsbury injured his knee (no deets) and went to the DL today.

[TransMonk]

Nats are 15-4 since that improbable comeback against the Braves on April 28th.

I mentioned in the Braves thread that I hoped the win wouldn't be a springboard for the Nats. My hopes have been dashed.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: Nice of someone to finally dent the back end of the Yanx bullpen, just wish it hadn't been the Nats. Not technically a blown save since it was a tie game, but those were the first earned runs scored all season off of either Betances or Miller. Ryan Zimmerman, who won last night's contest with a 2R HR off of Andrew Miller, now has 10 career walk-off HRs. Not only is that a lot in a general sense, but everyone else who has as many* or more than him has at least twice as many career HRs as compared to Zimmerman's comparatively paltry 189. Looked at another way, more than 5% of his HRs have gone for walk-off winners. Active leaders Pujols & Papi, for instance, have 11 walk-off HRs each but have those spread over a combined 999 career HRs, barely over 2%. Jayson Werth back to the DL. I think he sprained his hair. Infielder Wilmer Difo was called up making the NL East a two-Wilmer division. So Werth and Ellsbury got hurt? I certainly wasn't 'rooting' for injuries out of that series, but... * At least as far as can be determined. Some pre-1930s data for WO HRs are sketchy.

[Frayed Knot]

Apparently it's not enough that Bryce Harper has like 52 HRs this month because for the second time in a week he gets ejected only to have his replacement HR in the very next AB.
2-2 in the 5th

[Edgy MD]

Aaron Barrett is more patriotic than you. Or at least more patriotic than any of the Phillies.

On a beautiful spring night, a children�s choir sang the National anthem, a clear and smooth rendition. The crowd cheered their efforts, and the Phillies and Nationals headed to their dugouts. Barrett, a 27-year-old right-handed reliever, did not move. As is his post-anthem custom, Barrett scanned the opposing dugout, making sure the opponent�s line had dispersed. He held his hat over his heart and kept it there, standing a few feet from the fence in front of the Nationals dugout. What he saw changed the course of pregame history. �I don�t even know how it happened,� Barrett said. �Five of them were out there basically challenging me. I was like, �Great.� I didn�t want to do it. I thought they were going to give up way earlier than that. It turned out to be � well, obviously we are at home, so I thought, �I can�t lose this.� �

[fimg=800]https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/files/2015/05/Barrett.jpg&w=1484[/fimg]

I'm a little confused as to what the point of doffing your hat is if you're going to wear a backwards batting helmet.